"The defense goes on and on about Michael Cohen is immoral or a liar or a thief," prosecutor Josh Steinglass said of the state's star witness.

"We didn't choose Michael Cohen to be a witness. We didn't pick him up at witness store. The defendant chose him as a fixer because he was willing to lie and cheat," he said, drawing a few laughs from the jury.

Steinglass then displayed a passage from one of Trump's books to exemplify why he hired someone like Michael Cohen in the first place.

"As a matter of fact, I value loyalty above everything else -- more than brains, more than drive, and more than energy," the passage read.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass addressed the defense allegation that Michael Cohen lied on the witness stand about an Oct. 24, 2016, phone call with Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller while Schiller was with Trump.

“Of course the defense says, ‘Ah-ha! That’s per-jur-y,’” Steinglass said, exaggerating the syllables to mimick how defense attorney Todd Blanche had said it during his closing.

“To them, that’s the big lie. But that’s not the only interpretation,” said Steinglass.

Steinglass then role-played the alleged conversation between Schiller and Cohen to suggest that Cohen could have talked to both Schiller and Trump during the 90-second call, as Cohen had testified.

“Forty-nine seconds,” Steinglass said after completing the role-play.

"Michael Cohen is understandably angry that to date he's the only one who paid the price," prosecutor Josh Steinglass said about the state's star witness.

"Cohen did the defendant's bidding for years," Steinglass said. "Anyone in Cohen's shoes would want the defendant to be held accountable.

Regarding Cohen stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization by submitting an inflated reimbursement request for IT expenses, Steinglass said Cohen "is the one who brought it to everyone's attention. He raised it. He volunteered it."

As to why he wasn't arrested, Steinglass said, "he paid his price."

"He's been convicted of multiple felonies, ... he can't get a mortgage ... not to mention the steady stream of online attacks," Steinglass said.

And, Steinglass added, Cohen's theft is not a defense to falsifying business records.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass conceded that Stormy Daniels gave, at times, "cringe-worthy" testimony -- but told they jury the details she provided bolster her credibility.

"To be sure, there were parts of her testimony that were cringe-worthy," Steinglass said. "Some of the details of what the suite looked like, the contents of his toiletry bag" he said "ring true."

He accused the defense of working hard to discredit Daniels because that's the story Trump didn't want the American public to see.

"Stormy Daniels is the motive," Steinglass said. "And you can bet the defendant would not pay $130,000 ... just because he took a photograph with someone on the golf course."

"The defense has gone to laughable lengths" to make "feeble" arguments to undermine the recording of Donald Trump and Michael Cohen discussing a reimbursement to A.M.I. for the Karen McDougal payment, prosecutor Josh Steinglass said.

Steinglass mocked defense attorney Todd Blanche's effort to cast doubt on the recording because Cohen picked up another call.

"Here's a newsflash: people use their phones," Steinglass said.

Steinglass accused Blanche of using this argument to "muddy the waters" of this case.

"The fact is, no number of misleading questions, wild speculation ... can distract you from one simple fact: the metadata for this file proves it was not tampered with in any way."

"This recording is nothing short of jaw dropping," Steinglass said before replaying the recording.

"This tape unequivocally shows a presidential candidate actively engaging in scheme to influence the election by reimbursing AMI for killing the McDougal story, and that's why they are desperate to discredit it," Steinglass said.

"This recording shows the defendant's cavalier willingness to hide this payment," he said. "This shows the defendant suggesting paying in cash. It doesn't even matter if that means a bag of cash or a lump sum. It doesn't matter because he's trying to do it in a way that's not going to leave a paper trail -- that's the point."

Court was then recessed for the mid-afternoon break, with the prosecution's closing argument expected to take at least another two hours.